Booker T and the MGs – Plum Nellie
Booker T and the MGs
Listen/Download -Booker T and the MGs – Plum Nellie
Greetings all.
The end of another week is finally upon us.
Things are so busy/topsy turvy these days that the end of the week has lost almost all meaning (other than the fact that the boys get the weekend off).
It seems sometimes as if we’re lost in a blur marked by the analog “hospital/no hospital”.
This is not to say that that my wife’s health situation has gotten worse, because it hasn’t, but rather that the grind of treatment and the ensuing disruption of what little routine we could depend on tends to leave us in a fog of sorts, composed of equal parts confusion, boredom and angst.
That said, one of the things you can depend on is that if Friday is here, so is the latest episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We have a very special episode this week, composed entirely of a tribute to Etta James and Johnny Otis. It will hit the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime, you can always fall by this very spot over the weekend when and where I post a downloadable MP3 of every week’s show (see the Radio Show tab in the header).
The tune I have chosen to close out the week this time is a veritable audio grease fire from the Memphis law firm of Jones, Cropper, Jackson and Dunn.
I am not ashamed to admit that the first time I heard the song ‘Plum Nellie’ is was on a Small Faces record, since Messrs Marriott, Jones, McGlagan and Lane were a big part of my ear-filling during the Mod/garage days of the 80s.
Though the Small Faces version (released in 67, but a part of their repertoire prior) of the tune is a killer, there is simply no getting past the fact that when Booker T and the MGs set foot in the Stax studio in 1963 they were gunning for bear.
Though – like every other largely instrumental unit of the day – the MGs recorded their share of filler (though even that was soulful) when they were at their best they were very, very heavy, and ‘Plum Nellie’ is a great example of that very heaviosity.
Opening with some whipcrack guitar from Steve Cropper, the tune settles into a ‘Green Onion’-y pace, but with a much grittier overall vibe. The horn arrangement is inspired, boiling up menacingly when needed. There’s a particularly inspired moment (at around 1:20) when the horns rise up and seemingly morph into Cropper’s guitar which then opens up into a raging solo.
The whole affair comes to a close at around the two-minute mark, and my thought is, had they taken it any further, they may have burned the studio down.
It’s that hot.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.
Peace
Larry
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Funky16Corners, Hammond Grooves, Instrumental, Soul, Soul 45
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Funky16Corners, Hammond Organ, Memphis, Soul
Themocracy
“Audio grease fire.” We need a soul blog by that name. Great line.
Thank you sir!
Hang in there, my man.
love this track
Wow, that’s a huge track Larry…really loving Booker T’s greasy organ sound during the solo – as simple as it is!
By the way, thanks for posting the Zainichi Fanku set in your radio show last week! There are some pretty killer funk bands here in Japan! Coincidentally, the band I play with are currently working on a rendition of ‘Twitchie Feet’ too (with me on the keys)!
Take care Larry!
James
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